Breakdown of Tämä auto tarvitsee bensiiniä, mutta nuo muut ovat sähköautoja.
tämä
this
olla
to be
tuo
that
auto
car
mutta
but
tarvita
to need
muu
other, else
sähköauto
electric car
bensiini
gasoline
Questions & Answers about Tämä auto tarvitsee bensiiniä, mutta nuo muut ovat sähköautoja.
Why does the sentence use muut instead of toiset here?
Muu means other in the sense of a different kind or category, which fits perfectly here because we are contrasting a gasoline car with completely different vehicles (electric cars). If we used toiset, it would usually mean the others in the sense of the remaining cars of the exact same type or a specific closed group.
Why is bensiiniä in the partitive case?
The verb tarvita (to need) takes a partitive object when the thing needed is an uncountable mass noun, like bensiini (gasoline). You are saying the car needs an undefined amount of gas, not one whole, countable item.
Why does the sentence use nuo muut instead of ne muut for those others?
Nuo is a demonstrative pronoun used for things that are physically present and a bit further away from the speaker, as if pointing at those cars over there in the lot. Ne is generally used to refer back to things already mentioned in the conversation, whether they are in sight or not.
Why is sähköautoja in the partitive plural instead of the nominative plural sähköautot?
In sentences describing what a group of things are (using the verb olla), the describing noun is put in the partitive plural. Using the nominative plural sähköautot would mean they are the specific electric cars, rather than just belonging to the general category of electric cars.
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